The Process Of Gaining Self-Respect And Autonomy As A Black Woman Portrayed In Janie Mae Crawford In Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

Ambarwati, Citra (2012) The Process Of Gaining Self-Respect And Autonomy As A Black Woman Portrayed In Janie Mae Crawford In Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Sarjana thesis, Universitas Brawijaya.

Abstract

Selama bertahun-tahun, wanita kulit hitam mengalami penderitaan dalam menghadapi rasisme dan seksisme karena status mereka yang merupakan orang kulit hitam dan berjenis kelamin perempuan. Kondisi tersebut mendorong beberapa wanita untuk berjuang menuju kehidupan yang lebih baik. Salah satu usaha untuk menjadikan keadaan mereka lebih baik adalah dengan menumbuhkan kesadaran pada para wanitan kulit hitam akan kekuatan dan nilai mereka. Kesadaran tersebut meliputi kesadaran untuk memiliki harga diri dan memiliki otonomi. Studi ini berfokus pada proses pencarian harga diri dan otonomi yang dilakukan oleh Janie sebagai seorang wanita berkulit hitam pada sebuah novel berjudul Their Eyes were Watching God karya Zora Neale Hurston. Novel tersebut bercerita tentang seorang wanita kulit hitam yang mengalami tekanan dalam pernikahan pertama dan keduanya. Tekanan tersebut menyadarkannya akan pentingnya memiliki harga diri dan otonomi. Didukung oleh suami ketiganya, Tea Cake, Janie dapat memenuhi pencarian akan cinta dan impiannya. Hasil studi ini menunjukkan bahwa Janie tidak memiliki otonomi di pernikahan pertama dan keduanya dikarenakan belum adanya kesadaran akan perlunya harga diri dalam proses pernikahan tersebut. Ketiadaan harga diri dan otonomi ini membuat Janie diremehkan oleh suami pertama dan keduanya. Hal ini ditandai oleh reaksi diamnya ketika menghadapi penekanan yang dilakukan oleh suami pertama dan keduanya. Semua penekanan yang dialaminya tersebut menyadarkan Janie akan pentingnya harga diri agar orang lain tidak meremehkannya. Kesadaran tersebut menguat setelah kematian suami keduanya dan diikuti oleh keinginannya untuk memimpin hidupnya sendiri, otonomi, yang didukung oleh suami ketiganya, Tea Cake. Cara Tea Cake menghormati dan mencintai Janie menguatkan Janie dalam mendapatkan otonomi di hidupnya, meskipun pada akhirnya dia harus hidup sendiri setelah kematian Tea Cake. Dengan semua pengalaman tersebut, Janie berhasil menyelesaikan pencariannya akan harga diri dan otonomi. Pencapaian tersebut ditandai dengan mahirnya Janie mengendalikan dirinya dalam bersikap ketika dia dituduh membunuh suaminya, Tea Cake, di pengadilan dan ketika menanggapi gunjingan masyarakat Eatonville. Penulis menyarankan kepada mahasiswa yang akan menulis skripsi tentang sastra Afrika amerika untuk menggunakan pendekatan yang lain seperti pendekatan feminis dan pendekatan sosiologi.

English Abstract

For a long time, Black women had suffered for racism and sexism because of their being black and female. Those conditions made some women struggle for improving their condition. One of the efforts to improve Black women’s condition was by reviving Black women’s consciousness about their worth which are included the consciousness of having self-respect and autonomy. Thus, this study is focused on the process of gaining self-respect and autonomy done by Janie as a Black Woman in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God. The novel tells about a Black woman who experienced some oppressions in her first and second marriage. Those oppressions brought her to the consciousness of the importance of having self-respect and autonomy. Supported by her third husband, Tea Cake, she could fill her quest of autonomy. This study reveals that there is an absence of autonomy in her first and second marriage life because there is an absence of self-respect in most of her marriage process. The non-autonomous condition makes her be underestimated by her first and second husband. The absence of self-respect and autonomy in Janie’s life are characterized by her silence responses in facing male oppression done by her first and second husbands in her marriages. Those oppressions makes her realize that she needs to have self-respect so that people will not underestimate her. This consciousness gets stronger after her second husband’s death. The consciousness in having self-respect is followed by her desire in governing herself which is called autonomy. This desire is much supported by her third husband, Tea Cake. His respect and love to Janie support her power in gaining autonomy in her life, however, she has to live alone after Tea Cake’s death. With all of those experiences, Janie suceeds to complete her gaining of self-respect and autonomy. Her achievement is marked by the way she controls her voice and attitude when she is accused of killing Tea Cake in the court and the way she responds to townspeople gossips when she comes back to Eatonville. The writer suggests that the next students who will write thesis about African American literature apply other approaches such as feminist or sociological one.

Item Type: Thesis (Sarjana)
Identification Number: SKR/FBS/2012/97/051204360
Subjects: 400 Language > 420 English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
Divisions: Fakultas Ilmu Budaya > Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Depositing User: Endang Susworini
Date Deposited: 30 Oct 2012 15:29
Last Modified: 18 Oct 2021 05:02
URI: http://repository.ub.ac.id/id/eprint/100549
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